Depicting Good and Evil in Elizabethan England
Shakespeare uses lots of motifs and symbols to convey good and evil. Some, like darkness or storms, are universal. Others, like old women, are a reflection of his context.
Universal Symbols Darkness
We associate darkness or the colour black with evil or immorality. Villains in movies always wear black. Think about the Black Venom from Spiderman 3. The black costume has the ability to infiltrate a person's character, exemplifying his worst qualities. While Spiderman is strong enough to resist the promise of power that the costume offers, his competitor is not and thus, the Black Venom becomes a villain who poses a very real threat to Spiderman.
Black also symbolises death and destruction. In Elizabethan England (when Shakespeare was writing), there was a very real distinction between black and white witches.
Use the website below to answer questions 3-6. http://www.field-of-themes.com/shakespeare/essays/Emacbeth4.htm
Storm
It is significant that the three witches first meet during a thunderstorm. Storms often act as foreshadowing of evil or destruction. Lots of horror films use this motif.
Heaven and Hell
Religion was a big deal in Elizabethan England. Queen Elizabeth's father, Henry VIII, had unleashed chaos when he broke away from the Catholic Church and began the Church of England with himself as leader. Naturally, this meant that everyone in England was also required to be part of the Church of England and this rule held under the reign of Queen Elizabeth. Those who rebelled were tortured, imprisoned and often executed. Your life depended on you paying attention to religion. Shakespeare's writing uses images of Heaven to signpost the good and images of hell to indicate the evil.
Contextual Motifs
The Divine Right of Kings
In Elizabethan England, a king was equal to God. You did not question him. You did not challenge him. Treason (speaking or acting against the king) was a crime punishable by a fairly gruesome death. It was thought that the king's power was given to him by God and he had the God given right to be in charge and behave as he chose. Today, we have much less faith in our leaders. Imagine someone suggesting that Kevin Rudd had a God given right to lead!
The Natural Order of Things
Elizabethans were big believers in fate and destiny. They believed that everything happened for a reason. They also believed that nature was perfectly balanced and that if you messed with this you were disrupting fate. Today, we can appreciate some of this "natural order of things" idea. For example, most people accept that the natural life cycle is to be born, to live your life and then to die. Most people are opposed to interrupting this process. For example, most people react with anger or sadness when a child's life is cut short - because it is not the way that life should go. For the Elizabethans, fate was so important that people basically made no choices - their lives were already planned by fate.
Witchcraft
The Elizabethans were highly superstitious and firmly believed in the supernatural. Sometimes, this fear became irrational and innocent people were targeted. It was natural for a woman to get married and have children. Therefore, a woman who did not conform to this was seen to be upsetting the natural order of things.
View the following slide presentation to learn more about witchcraft in Elizabethan England: Witches and Witchcraft in Elizabethan England.
Shakespeare uses lots of motifs and symbols to convey good and evil. Some, like darkness or storms, are universal. Others, like old women, are a reflection of his context.
Universal Symbols
Darkness
We associate darkness or the colour black with evil or immorality. Villains in movies always wear black. Think about the Black Venom from Spiderman 3. The black costume has the ability to infiltrate a person's character, exemplifying his worst qualities. While Spiderman is strong enough to resist the promise of power that the costume offers, his competitor is not and thus, the Black Venom becomes a villain who poses a very real threat to Spiderman.
Black also symbolises death and destruction. In Elizabethan England (when Shakespeare was writing), there was a very real distinction between black and white witches.
Use the website below to answer questions 3-6.
http://www.field-of-themes.com/shakespeare/essays/Emacbeth4.htm
Storm
It is significant that the three witches first meet during a thunderstorm. Storms often act as foreshadowing of evil or destruction. Lots of horror films use this motif.
Heaven and Hell
Religion was a big deal in Elizabethan England. Queen Elizabeth's father, Henry VIII, had unleashed chaos when he broke away from the Catholic Church and began the Church of England with himself as leader. Naturally, this meant that everyone in England was also required to be part of the Church of England and this rule held under the reign of Queen Elizabeth. Those who rebelled were tortured, imprisoned and often executed. Your life depended on you paying attention to religion. Shakespeare's writing uses images of Heaven to signpost the good and images of hell to indicate the evil.
Contextual Motifs
The Divine Right of Kings
In Elizabethan England, a king was equal to God. You did not question him. You did not challenge him. Treason (speaking or acting against the king) was a crime punishable by a fairly gruesome death. It was thought that the king's power was given to him by God and he had the God given right to be in charge and behave as he chose. Today, we have much less faith in our leaders. Imagine someone suggesting that Kevin Rudd had a God given right to lead!
The Natural Order of Things
Elizabethans were big believers in fate and destiny. They believed that everything happened for a reason. They also believed that nature was perfectly balanced and that if you messed with this you were disrupting fate. Today, we can appreciate some of this "natural order of things" idea. For example, most people accept that the natural life cycle is to be born, to live your life and then to die. Most people are opposed to interrupting this process. For example, most people react with anger or sadness when a child's life is cut short - because it is not the way that life should go. For the Elizabethans, fate was so important that people basically made no choices - their lives were already planned by fate.
Witchcraft
The Elizabethans were highly superstitious and firmly believed in the supernatural. Sometimes, this fear became irrational and innocent people were targeted. It was natural for a woman to get married and have children. Therefore, a woman who did not conform to this was seen to be upsetting the natural order of things.
View the following slide presentation to learn more about witchcraft in Elizabethan England:
Witches and Witchcraft in Elizabethan England.